1 After the Philistines took God’s chest, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2 Then the Philistines took God’s chest and brought it into Dagon’s temple and set it next to Dagon.
3 But when the citizens of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen facedown on the ground before the Lord’s chest! So they took Dagon and set him back up where he belonged.
4 But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon again, fallen facedown on the ground before the Lord’s chest—and this time Dagon’s head along with both his hands were cut off and lying on the doorstep! Only Dagon’s body was left intact.
5 That’s why to this day Dagon’s priests or anyone else who enters his temple in Ashdod doesn’t step on the threshold.
6 The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod: God terrified them and struck them in Ashdod and its surroundings with tumors.
7 When Ashdod’s inhabitants saw what was happening, they said, "The chest of Israel’s God must not stay here with us because his hand is hard against us and against our god Dagon."